George Jones had never had a parade thrown in honor of his work setting up power lines. But when he and other linemen from 4-County Electric Power Association traveled last week to help Hurricane Milton recovery efforts, that’s exactly what they got from grateful residents in Peace River, Florida.
“The town actually held a parade,” Jones, a crew leader, said. “They stood up on each side of the road, probably a mile long holding signs saying, ‘Thank you.’ It was very emotional, seeing the people actually in trouble … we’d come to save them, and in their time of need they’re taking time to thank us.”
While Milton spiked to a Category 5 over the Gulf of Mexico, the storm had dropped to a Category 3 by the time it made landfall Oct. 9.
Nevertheless, 4-County’s 11 volunteers found widespread debris and half or more of the area’s electrical poles blown over when they arrived in Peace River as part of a mutual aid program.
“There were trees and debris from houses everywhere,” Abe Finley, another crew leader, said. “We didn’t work in any flooded areas, but there were metal structures demolished, huge trees laid over. Whole poles laid over … of the 10 poles on one road, four were just blown over by the wind.”
“I’d say it was a 5 out of 10, not near the worst I’ve seen but not near the best either,” Jones said of assisting the area of 60,000 residents south of Tampa. “The first job we had was getting Walmart back on, which let me know we were in for some rough stuff. It was pretty extensive damage, the roofs of trailer parks blown off with the trailers themselves still there. Some poles broken in half by trees falling. One had the whole roof of a trailer wrapped around the top.”
The extensive damage kept them busy for a full week before the crew returned Wednesday to Mississippi. Despite the devastation, both men focused more on the gratitude and generosity of residents than the scale of destruction.
“Everybody was extremely nice, nobody bartering with you, asking when they’ll get power,” Jones said. “People just pulled up offering food, drinks, anything we needed, even just thanking us. … There was a little Mexican restaurant that gave us half off our bill, right off the bat, for being there working on the storm damage.”
Finley also reported residents coming out to offer what they had, with one local making the rounds to see if the linemen would take some of the venison from his last deer hunts.
“One customer was getting close to losing his freezer after several days without power,” Finley said. “He comes over like, ‘I may not be supposed to do this, but I want to give y’all deer meat. I’d rather it go to a good cause.’ I said, ‘Hey, we’ll take meat, man.’ People were just so grateful for everything, that’s probably the most important part for me. People around home think they’re entitled to your work, you’re not going to get a thank you for just doing your job. But it goes a long way.”
Florida brought its own unique challenges beside those of the hurricane. 4-County’s crews encountered alligators and some snakes, although none presented a real obstacle to their work. Iguanas were a constant presence around the recovery areas.
Many residents had chosen to stay in place and ride out the storm despite dire warnings, including large sections of Florida’s retiree community, mostly from up north. Jones spoke to a couple from Ohio that had moved down last year and was already questioning whether they should stay.
Helene response
4-County sent a separate team of 10 volunteers down to help with Hurricane Helene response, restoring power to 35,000 residents near Tallahassee. Helene hit Florida as a substantially more powerful storm than Milton, making landfall Sept. 26 as a Category 4 and almost erasing some areas entirely.
“We saw trees, debris, rooftops along the roads. It’s unimaginable if you’ve never seen anything like that,” journeyman lineman Hayden Nickels said. “People who’d lost their homes, their property, their vehicles. We saw more of the water surge, up to 12 feet. Everything was just washed away. A house that was sitting right there is now a mile down the road, or completely torn apart.”
Even under those circumstances, there were still people Nickels mentioned taking the time to thank the linemen.
“You expect the worst. People have lost it all and here we show up feeling like we’re not doing much of anything. But they’re very appreciative,” he said. “It’s like when they see the power companies show up, they know, ‘All right, we’re getting somewhere. We’re starting to clean up and rebuild.’”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
